It should be any day, Simon. I've had clearance and confirmation from Demon this morning, so it could even be as soon as tomorrow. I'll hoist a joyful post as soon as the container is blocking the drive. And thanks for your loyalty to the Hillside cause!

I see Amazon is currently showing 'no customer reviews' against the new reissues. Many here will remember the time of the SFM releases, when a number of people now on this list submitted their own reviews of the albums, both to Amazon and to Magpie, the first online retailer to stock them. In fact the first 2-on-1 (BOTBS/DTMA) subsequently became such a popular purchase that it remained top of Magpie's online bestseller list for several weeks.

Some here might argue that the new issues represent an opportunity for the uninitiated to hear these songs for the first time, and that they themselves would only make what they see as a repeat purchase for the sake of the printed material, or the splendour of the packages on their shelf. And that all that could be said about the songs, the performances and the recordings has already been said.

Yet... if Pete and Clive's music is to gather a new following, we should be doing all we can to assist and support the process. I'm not cajoling you all to part with your hard-earned cash for these highly-underpriced gems -- historically that has never worked well in present company -- but a bit of discreet proselytising wouldn't cost us anything. It would be good to see a variety of informed opinion, or genuine enthusiasm, expressed in those 'customer reviews' lists at Amazon and the others.

Just to endorse Paul's view, the new CDs are beautifully packaged and the notes by Pete and Clive are fascinating and highly entertaining. One or two gloriously embarrassing photos, too. And the bonus tracks, particularly on BOBS, are well worth the price of admission as well, even if (like me) you already possess these records in all their previous vinyl and CD incarnations. I was fortunate enough to hear recordings of the two 'cardboard' albums in the halcyon days of the MV Library, so it's terrific to have some of them commercially available.

Incidentally, in the course of reading Clive's extraordinary 'Cultural Amnesia', I'd picked up a number of passing references to phrases from the lyrics, several of which are also mentioned in the annotations here ('tie the brush into my hands' from Renoir and 'clouded ruins of a god' from Hazlett, for example). I'm assuming that, in the notes to 'Secret Drinker', Clive will tell us how Miles Davis's Ferrari transformed into a 'Rover 3 Litre'.

And then there are our distinguished lurkers: Fraser, Hendry and Lindsay. Plus a couple of Iains.

Shouldn't really count the Ians who never rejoined when MV switched to a Web forum: David, Elder, Hey, Jones, McNee, Stewart, Sutherland, West, Wood and Wright, although some of these may be lurking here unrecognised under pseudonyms.

Just to say that the Hillside Music shelves are now virtually and actually stocked with extra-value copies of the Demon Edsel CD reissues of "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" and "Driving Through Mythical America" complete with bonus tracks and, I think I may say, lavish booklets with pics and scans and documentation and extensive new notes by me and Clive. Just click on 'PA Home' above, scroll down to the Hillside shop, and click on 'Enter Shop'. The trove of treasures will be revealed. Happy shopping!

Plug for the new albums by Rob Hughes sitting in for Guy Garvey last Sunday (8th Feb) on Radio 6 at 10pm. He played Girl on the train about 35 minutes into the programme. Available on Listen Again but presumably only for a few more hours!

The postman arrived this morning with a 'jiffy bag' containing new Edsel editions of Beware of the Beautiful Stranger and Driving Through Mythical America from the stock at Hillside Records.

The packaging and inserts exceed expectations, to see the listing from Melody Maker in April 1970 listing Pete Atkin, The Stawbs and Robin & Barry Dransfield playing (does anyone else own a copy of The Fiddler's Dream - if not why not?)

Many thanks to all at Hillside for the prompt delivery - the Beautiful Stranger was most impressed.

Though he had no great gifts of personality or mind, he was quite well respected.

Managed to get advance copies of the next releases - A King At Nightfall/The Road of Silk and Secret Drinker/Live Libel - which are presented as splendidly as Beware... and Driving... I'm very taken with Pete's spoken intro to the single version of Sessionman's Blues. Both double sets sound wonderful and the notes and pictures are again a delight. A perhaps rueful note is sounded in the notes to Live Libel, which is still chiefly worth getting for Uncle Sea-Bird and Ballad Of An Upstairs Window. Well done to all concerned. Should also mention that a picture ad for the reissues appears in, if I remember rightly, the latest Record Collector.

I hope everybody's enjoying Pete and Clive's appearances on the Ken Bruce show this week. Prior to today's airing, Ken read out a letter of particularly fulsome praise for the albums from a listener - I didn't catch the name though. Was it an MV?

Can we expect Pete's Unreliable Memoirs one day? I know he's a busy man but I'm sure his autobiography would be at least as interesting as Clive's though similar sales figures might be too much to hope for. Unless a literary Voice offers to act as his Boswell. I'd certainly borrow a copy of any such work.

As possible enterprises go, Ian, that sounds to me like setting oneself up for a fall. Naturally, I continue to believe in the possibility of my becoming an overnight sensation, in which case the offers will no doubt flood in, but somehow I can't get images involving gnats and/or snowballs out of my mind.

Ordered BOTBS and DTMA from Hillside on Monday, package arrived Tuesday, been listening to and reading it ever since! The bonus tracks from The Party's Moving On and the inserts are worth the price alone. There is plenty of history in those booklets, and references to musical influences (though they don't seem to help with the Tracks of my years competition!). Really looking forward to the remaining 2 CD sets...

The Demon demons have worked their magic and the Hillside Music shelves, both virtual and actual, are now well stocked with copies of ALL the new Demon Edsel reissues of the 1970s albums, complete with expansive documentation, bonus tracks, etc. There's even a special deal available for those wishing to buy all four (two singles and two doubles).